Exploring Emotion in Teaching: Emotional Labor, Burnout, and Satisfaction in Chinese Higher Education

Abstract

The current study was designed to examine the emotional labor of Chinese college instructors and its effects on teacher burnout and satisfaction. Four major findings were drawn: (a) of the three dimensions of emotional labor, Chinese college instructors engaged in deep acting the most and surface acting the least; (b) surface acting had deleterious effects on teacher burnout and satisfaction, but deep acting and authenticity had positive effects; (c) the three dimensions of emotional labor differed in magnitude as predictors of teacher burnout and satisfaction; and (d) both the emotional labor scale and the burnout scale conformed to the three-factor model with a Chinese sample.

Keywords:

• Emotion
• Emotional Labor
• Teacher Burnout
• Teaching Satisfaction
• Chinese Teachers

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr Patricia Kearney and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions on previous drafts of this manuscript.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Qin Zhang

Qin Zhang (Ph.D., University of New Mexico, 2005) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at Fairfield University

Weihong Zhu

Weihong Zhu (M.A., Central China Normal University, 1998) is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at Central China Normal University